STORM DATA OFFERED ONLY IN ENGLISH NOTHING IS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH OR CREOLE

The peak of the hurricane season is here, and thousands of Palm Beach County residents could be at risk for one simple reason: They don't speak English, and the government is not translating hurricane preparation instructions for them.

No step-by-step pamphlet on how to prepare for hurricanes is offered in any foreign language by the Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management, the agency charged with preparing residents for natural disasters.

One in 10 county residents speaks Spanish, and one in 20 speaks Creole, activists say.

"It just hadn't occurred to me," B.T. Kennedy, the man in charge of disaster preparations, said on Tuesday.

Palm Beach County does not measure up to some of its neighbors when it comes to preparing residents with printed hurricane information, an informal survey shows.

People south of the county border can pick up detailed hurricane brochures in Creole, Spanish or English from the Broward County Emergency Preparedness office, said director Arthur St. Amand. In Dade County, as well as the Tampa area, step-by-step pamphlets are available in Spanish and English.

"I didn't know anybody had anything we didn't have," Kennedy said.

Stacked in a rack at the Emergency Management office in West Palm Beach are information sheets and fold-out brochures on many disaster topics.

Some are in Spanish.

One warns of flash floods near mountain ranges, for instance.

Other information sheets teach Hispanic residents such things as: What to do if the refrigerator stops working; weather terminology; general information on flooding, and how to protect swimming pools from hurricane damage.

No foreign-language brochure, however, gives step-by-step instructions detailing what residents should do if a hurricane threatens Palm Beach County. The situation is the same at the local office of the American Red Cross, at ethnic community centers, and at the office of the Florida Division of Emergency Management in Tallahassee.

"We do not publish literature in any language other than English," state spokesman Richard Morgan said.

They can read where to find American Red Cross hurricane shelters. They can read how to make an evacuation plan and what to do before, during and after a hurricane strikes.

They can also spot which Palm Beach County areas are more at risk in a hurricane.

An example: The Haitian community east of Interstate 95, in Delray Beach. No hurricane shelters sit between Atlantic Avenue and Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach, according to the English pamphlets.

"Evacuees should (re)locate to the closest shelter outside of their zone for refuge," the brochure says in English.

The fold-out brochures are provided by the Palm Beach County Commission "in the interest of the life & safety of Palm Beach County citizens and visitors," says a sentence on the cover. About 15,000 copies of the brochure were printed this year at a cost to taxpayers of $1,050, Kennedy said.

One in six Palm Beach County adults does not speak English at home, suggesting that they might not read English, either, according to 1980 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the latest information available.

And more foreigners are moving into the county. The Hispanic population has more than doubled since 1980, to an estimated 70,000 residents, said Lou Martinez, executive director of Hispanic Human Resources Council. In the meantime, an estimated 35,000 Haitians have moved into the county, Thomas said.

Should a hurricane threaten the county today, residents who do not speak English would be warned by four Emergency Management volunteers who would announce bulletins through the media and field phone calls in Creole and Spanish, Kennedy said. No other languages would be represented.

"That's just really not practical," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said on Tuesday that, after the topic was brought up by a Sun- Sentinel reporter, he has decided to find someone to translate the English hurricane brochure into Creole.

He said the Spanish-language literature available through his office is adequate.

His office handed out step-by-step Spanish hurricane brochures in the past, he said, although no more are available now.

September historically has been a ferocious month for South Florida hurricanes.

Ten of 12 recorded hurricanes hit here during September. The latest was Hurricane David, a weak storm that came ashore in West Palm Beach in 1979. The most deadly hit Lake Okeechobee in 1928, killing 1,836 people.